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Citation |
Kogon B, Loughery Jr. DL. J. Crim. Law Criminol. Police Sci. 1970; 61(3): 378-392. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 1970, Northwestern University School of Law, Publisher Williams and Wilkins) |
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DOI |
unavailable |
PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
The article presents information on the sealing and expungement of criminal records. The widespread practice of sealing or expunging criminal and delinquency records is a failure. Despite the good intentions of its proponents, it does not provide the relief in tended and actually does harm, frequently, by the hoax it plays upon ex-offenders and the general public. The whole approach requires re-examination. Basic social values are involved; this is a matter of conscience, not merely convenience. It includes more than simply the concealment of offender records. Review is timely because there is a growing concern about the way a record handicaps an offender. Furthermore, correctional practice, in general, is being closely questioned and re-evaluated today. Certainly the traditional mishandling of the record should be among the first aspects of practice to be challenged. Record sealing and expungement have been accepted casually and extended uncritically over the years, prospering in a rosy glow of good intentions and expediency, with little attention to evaluation of results. There are few court decisions and attorney-general opinions dealing with the subject. Definitive law is absent because the subject matter has rarely been litigated upward. Extant litigation is scanty and inconclusive; appeal decisions are rare. |